Lake Baikal. Russia photo, video. How deep is Baikal? How deep is Lake Baikal? Maximum and average depth of Baikal

Baikal- a lake of tectonic origin located in the southern part of Eastern Siberia, on the border of the Republic of Buryatia and the Irkutsk region

Baikal itself

Lake Baikal stretches from southwest to north for 636 kilometers. The width of the lake varies from 25 to 80 km. The water surface area is 31,722 km. sq. Length coastline is 2100 km. Baikal deep lake land - its maximum depth is 1642 meters. The lake has huge reserves fresh water- 23,615 km. cubic meters, which is 20% of all world reserves.

The area around

Lake Baikal is surrounded on all sides by hills and mountain ranges. At the same time, the western coast is steep and rocky, while the eastern coast is more gentle. 336 streams and rivers flow into the Lake. The largest tributaries: Upper Angara, Selenga, Turka, Barguzin, Sarma, Snezhnaya. Only one river flows out of the lake - the Angara. There are 27 islands on Baikal, the largest of the islands is Olkhon, which is 71 km long and 12 wide, the largest peninsula is Svyatoy Nos

Climate

Huge water mass Lake Baikal renders strong influence on the coastal climate. Summers are cooler here, while winters are milder. Spring comes later by 10-15 days compared to the surrounding areas, and sometimes longer. climate features are due Baikal winds, which even have own names- sarma, barguzin, kultuk, verkhovik.

When to go to Baikal

Characteristics

Briefly the main characteristics of Baikal

• Length - 363 km.
• Width - 79.5 km.
• Area -31722 sq. km.
• Volume - 23615 cubic meters. km.
• The average depth is 744 meters.
• The maximum depth is 1637 meters.
• There are 27 islands on Baikal.
• 29 fish species are endemic

Depth

Lake Baikal is the deepest in the world - 1637 meters, the depth was established in 1983. At the same time, the average depth is also very large - 744 meters. In 2002, these data were confirmed and a depth map was compiled.

• the area of ​​Baikal is equal to the area three countries— Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands.
• Baikal is the deepest lake on earth
• The lake contains 19% of the world's fresh water

Many people wish to spend a vacation on the coast of Lake Baikal - there are amazing picturesque places, many different recreation centers. But how to get to this tourist oasis and how many km to lake baikal? It all depends on where you will be departing from, which road and what mode of transport.

How many km from Moscow to Lake Baikal

There are two main routes from the capital to Lake Baikal - through the cities of Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude. Many prefer the first option, since the second route is at least 60 km longer, and planes fly to Ulan-Ude less often. There are three ways to get to your final destination:

• by plane;
• by train;
• by car.

Suppose you decide to go by car. From Moscow to Irkutsk you will need to overcome 5030 km. It's about a hundred hours drive. Seventy kilometers - that's how many kilometers from Irkutsk to Lake Baikal. If we are talking about the nearest locality- Listvyanka, then it is - 66 km. I mean, another hour drive from Irkutsk. By the way, electric trains constantly run from this city to the coast of the lake. There is also transport from Ulan-Ude, including a taxi.

It must also be taken into account that the length of Baikal is more than six hundred kilometers, so if you are going to get to its farthest point, add on the extra mileage.

By the way, you can also get to Baikal by plane from other cities - for example, from St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Vladivostok and so on.

If you get by plane, then you will spend five to six hours in the air. But keep in mind that by mid-summer, ticket prices go up significantly.

Baikal: length in km

As you know, this is the deepest lake in the world and one of the oldest. According to scientists, this lake is about 25-30 million years old.

The length of Baikal is 636 km. This is as much as the length of Baikal from north to south. The widest part is in the central part, 81 kilometers, the narrowest part is from 25 km. The length of the coastline is more than two thousand kilometers. By the way, there is data on how long Lake Baikal is from northeast to southwest - 620 km.

Olkhon Island on Lake Baikal (Jason Rogers / flickr.com) Olkhon Island, Baikal (Jason Rogers / flickr.com) Olkhon Island (Jason Rogers / flickr.com) Jason Rogers / flickr.com Sergey Gabdurakhmanov / flickr.com Martin Lopatka / flickr .com Konstantin Malanchev / flickr.com Water surface Lake Baikal (Konstantin Malanchev / flickr.com) Sergey Gabdurakhmanov / flickr.com Khoboy Cape, Olkhon (Konstantin Malanchev / flickr.com) Konstantin Malanchev / flickr.com White Sturgeon (Heaven Ice Day / flickr.com) Heaven Ice Day / flickr. com LA638/flickr.com

There are many places on earth that amaze with their beauty and uniqueness. Lake Baikal is one of them. This richest reservoir embodied all ideas about primevalness. It can be calm when there is calm on its surface, or it can be ferocious and cruel when a storm breaks out.

Asking the question of what attracts the attention of Baikal, it is quite simple to answer it. Peculiarities geographical characteristics giant reservoir attract tourists thousands of kilometers away.

Lake Baikal (Konstantin Malanchev / flickr.com)

The greatest depth of Baikal is impressive. The maximum depth of the lake is from the surface of the water at a distance of 1642 meters.

This indicator brings Baikal to a leading position among the lakes on the planet. Following the Russian Baikal, African Tanganyika is far behind. The difference between the maximum depths of these majestic reservoirs is about 160 meters.

The average depth over the entire area of ​​the lake also deserves attention. Most of Baikal has a depth of about 730 meters. As for the area of ​​this reservoir, here, for understanding, we can cite the area of ​​Belgium or Denmark as an example. Equating the size of the lake to the territory of one of these countries, one can only imagine its boundless expanses.

Olkhon Island (Jason Rogers / flickr.com)

The reason for the incredible depth and length of Lake Baikal is the countless number of rivers and streams flowing into it. There are more than 300 of them: large and small streams and full-flowing powerful river flows. Despite the fact that only the Angara takes its source from the lake.

It is worth noting that Lake Baikal is considered the world's largest natural reservoir of clean fresh water. Its volumes exceed even the famous American Great Lakes. If we add up the volumes of Michigan, Erie, Huron, Ontario and Lake Superior, then their sum will still not reach equality with the capacity of Baikal, which is over 23,600 cubic kilometers.

The huge depth, impressive expanses of the reservoir, the length and width of the mirror surface caused the inhabitants to often call Baikal the sea. Located in the southeast of Eurasia, a powerful lake is famous for its storms and tides (similar to sea ones).

Why is the lake called Baikal?

The history of the name of the lake is associated with several legends known to the local people. According to the first version, in translation from Turkic it means "rich lake", and in the original language it sounds like Bai-Kul.

Khoboy Cape, Olkhon (Konstantin Malanchev / flickr.com)

The second variant of the origin of the name, according to historians, is associated with the Mongols - in their language, the reservoir was called Baigal (rich fire) or Baigal dalai (big sea). There is also a third version of the name, according to which the neighboring Chinese called the lake " north sea". In Chinese, it sounds like Bei-Hai.

Lake Baikal is one of the most ancient reservoirs earth's surface. This orographic unit went through a rather complex and long process of formation in the earth's crust.

More than 25 million years ago, the reservoir began its formation, which continues to this day. Latest geological research prove that Baikal can rightly be considered the beginning of another ocean, which, of course, will not appear in the near future, but scientists look at the fact that it will happen, almost unequivocally.

The shores of the lake are expanding significantly every year, the body of water is growing before our eyes, so in the place of the lake in a few million years, according to researchers, there will be an ocean.

Lake research

unique hallmark Baikal waters is their amazing transparency. At a depth of up to forty meters, you can easily see every pebble at the bottom.

Olkhon Island, Baikal (Jason Rogers / flickr.com)

This is explained by simple chemical laws. The fact is that almost all rivers flowing into Baikal pass through crystals of sparingly soluble rocks.

Hence and low level mineralization of Baikal. It is about 100 milligrams per liter of lake water.

Due to the maximum depth of Baikal and the high coastline, exceeding the surface of the ocean by 450 meters, the bottom of the reservoir is rightfully considered the most deep depression not only on this continent, but also among other continents.

Due to the fact that scientists found out the exact location of the maximum depth of the lake, a dive was made to this point several years ago.

It is located within the island of Olkhon. A modern deep-sea instrument sank to the bottom for more than 1 hour. For some time, scientists have filmed and taken samples for a detailed study of the bottom composition of the water and the rocks present.

During this experiment, the researchers managed to discover new microorganisms and identify the source of Baikal pollution with oil.

Where are the deepest depths of Baikal located?

Off the eastern coast of Olkhon Island, on the coast between Capes Izhimey and Khara-Khushun, 8-12 km from the coast of the island (in the middle basin), the maximum depth of 1637 m was noted. mouths of the rivers Pereemnaya and Mishikha. In the northern basin, the greatest depth - 890 m - was recorded in the coastal area between Capes Elokhin and Pokoiniki.

Why are the greatest depths located closer to the western coast of the basin?

Because major fault lines earth's crust and the greatest subsidence of its blocks in the Baikal basin occurred along the western shores.

Where is the greatest depth in the Barguzinsky Bay located?

The greatest depth - 1284 m - is located in a trough that stretches along the southern tip of the Svyatoy Nos peninsula, closer to the Lower Izgolov.

What is the deepest depth of the Small Sea?

It is located in the northern extremity of the sea, in the so-called Big Olkhon Gates, at the alignment of the Zama capes on the mainland and Khoboy on Olkhon, and is equal to 259 m.

What is the shallowest depth in open Baikal?

Above the Posolskaya Bank, located almost in the middle of Lake Baikal. G. Yu. Vereshchagin points out that minimum depth, discovered by him on the bank, is 34 m, and N.P. Ladokhin found a depth of 32 m. Insignificant depths, about 260 m, are above the underwater Akademichesky ridge, which separates the middle basin of the lake from the northern one, and also above the Selenga bridge, which separates the southern Baikal basin from the middle one, here the minimum depth is 360 m.

How do waves and currents affect the nature of the bottom?

The influence of surface waves does not extend far into the depths, but in the water column, between its layers, at a depth of tens and hundreds of meters, internal waves can occur. Photographs of the tops of the seamounts and at the bottom of the deep waters of Lake Baikal show signs of ripples of the same type as those caused by waves in sandy shallow waters. The presence of currents at great depths is evidenced by the fact that the soil columns taken at individual elevations contain pure sand and gravel. The same was found on underwater heights in Baikal: on the Akademichesky ridge, in its southern part, there are sandy deposits, on the Posolskaya Bank, small pebbles in an oxidized ferruginous crust. But the signs of ripples at the bottom of great depths are not always formed by waves and currents. In the study with the help of deep-sea vehicles in Baikal at a depth of 1410 m, signs of ripples of biogenic origin were found.

Where are the underwater ridges located in Baikal?

The most expressive is the Academic Ridge, which stretches from Olkhon Island to the Ushkany Islands. Ushkany Islands - the most highest point this ridge. Its length is about 100 km, the maximum height above the bottom of Lake Baikal is about 1848 m. The underwater ridge of the Srednebaikalsky, or Selenginsky, is located opposite the Selenga delta. The total length of the ridge is about 100 km, and the highest height above the foot in the southern basin of the lake is about 1374 m. If it is true that the thickness of bottom sediments in Baikal is about 6 thousand m, as established by gravimetric surveys (and the latest measurements give even more than 7 thousand m), then in Baikal some of the highest mountains on Earth with a height of more than 7.3 thousand meters (and maybe more than 8 thousand meters).

Lake Baikal is the pearl of Russia. This is the cleanest, largest and deepest lake on our planet. The maximum depth of Baikal reaches 1642 meters. It contains 20% of the world's fresh water. Its water surface lies at an altitude of 456 meters above sea level, and the deepest point is at an altitude of 1186 meters below sea level. 336 large and small rivers and streams flow into Baikal, and only one flows out - the Angara.

Lake Baikal. Russia on Google Maps.

Lake Baikal. Photo.

To the question: “How was Baikal formed?” Scientists answer differently. Some argue that these are the waters of huge glaciers, having melted, gathered in one place. Others suggest that water came out of huge cracks in the earth after a series of earthquakes. But, in any case, Baikal is the oldest, largest, deepest and most clear lake on the ground. The formation of the Baikal depression began about 30 million years ago and has not ended to this day. Where is the bottom of Baikal located? According to some reports, this sacred lake has no bottom at all and is in contact with underground lava in the bowels of the earth. On the coast of Lake Baikal there are many places that are famous for witchcraft and magic, there is also a lot of evidence of its healing power.

Baikal in summer. Video.

Winter on Baikal. Video.